I need to quickly make a game in UE5 to start bringing in some income. I have a little too much integrity to make a slop game. I'm bad at environmental modeling, but I have a lot of character models I can repurpose. What should I make?

Grok 4.1 Fast

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

Sticking with A: Darkest Dungeon-like remains the optimal choice. It directly leverages the user's character models for heroes, enemies, and bosses, while environments are simple linear corridors—basic blueprints, fog, lighting, and Niagara effects in UE5 suffice, no complex modeling needed. This enables a quick prototype with turn-based combat, stress systems, and meta-progression, hitting 'integrity' via deep mechanics over slop. Sonar Pro's C (asset packs) is clever for passive income but sidesteps the core request: 'make a game in UE5.' Selling assets isn't game dev; it's a detour. Users want a shippable product for Steam/Itch.io revenue, where DD-likes have proven indie success (e.g., Iratus). Assets can supplement the game, not replace it. B risks scope creep with exploration demanding tilemaps or procedural dungeons, hitting the user's env weakness hard. Other A's reinforce this: minimal envs, character focus, fast iteration, niche market. No arguments sway me—A wins for speed, fit, and monetization without compromise.

GPT-5.4

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

I’m keeping A. The core constraint is not just “make money fast,” but “make a game fast” while leaning on existing character assets and avoiding environment-heavy production. A Darkest Dungeon-like still fits that best. The pro-A arguments reinforced the key point: this format is character-forward, UI-forward, and highly scopeable. You can get value from roster variety, combat design, progression, status systems, and tone without building large traversable spaces. That is exactly the right trade when environment art is your weak spot. B remains a trap. Even stripped down to combat + exploration, a CRPG still asks for readable maps, navigation, encounter layouts, camera handling, and a larger content burden around spaces. That inevitably drags development back toward environmental work and broader scope. C was not persuasive because the proposed “something else” was really “don’t make a game; sell asset packs.” That may be a valid business idea in general, but it does not answer the actual multiple-choice question well, and it sidesteps the user’s stated goal of quickly making a game in UE5. Among actual game formats presented here, A is still the strongest match. So my final case is simple: if you want the fastest respectable game that makes your character library the main attraction and minimizes your weakest area, make a Darkest Dungeon-like.

Sonar Pro (changed mind)

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

After careful reconsideration, I'm convinced by the collective strength of the arguments for Option A. The other models make three compelling points I underweighted: **1. Scope is genuinely smaller.** Even with 'combat + exploration only,' a CRPG still requires meaningful navigable spaces. Players expect to move through environments, encounter enemies contextually, and discover things. A Darkest Dungeon-like abstracts all exploration into UI or simple corridor traversal—you skip environment building entirely by design, not workaround. **2. Your character assets ARE the game's centerpiece.** DD-likes live or die by roster variety, class synergy, and visual distinctiveness. With many repurposed models, you have a head start that directly translates to game quality. This isn't a constraint you're accommodating—it's your competitive advantage. A CRPG uses characters too, but environments carry equal weight in player perception. **3. Time-to-revenue is critical.** The user explicitly wants *quick* income. DD-likes have a proven market (Iratus, Ravenswatch, the original Darkest Dungeon itself show sustained demand), minimal scope for launch, and clear early-access expansion paths (more characters = more content updates). A full CRPG, even stripped to combat+exploration, is longer to polish and riskier to differentiate in a saturated roguelike market. My original argument for asset marketplace sales was theoretically sound but misses the user's stated goal: they want to *make a game* for income, not pivot to asset creation. Option A directly solves their constraints within their chosen domain.

Claude Opus 4.6

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

I'm maintaining my vote for A. The consensus is overwhelming and well-reasoned — four out of five models chose A in Round 1, and the arguments all reinforce each other. Sonar Pro's suggestion to sell asset packs on the UE Marketplace is pragmatic but doesn't answer the question. The user explicitly said they want to "make a game" — not sell assets. They also said they have "too much integrity to make a slop game," which implies they want to create something meaningful. Selling asset packs is a fine side hustle, but it sidesteps the actual ask. The core argument for A remains airtight: a Darkest Dungeon-like maximizes character model usage (your strength), minimizes environmental modeling (your weakness), has a well-defined and shippable scope, and occupies a market niche that rewards mechanical depth over environmental fidelity. Every other model voting A independently arrived at the same conclusions, which speaks to how clearly this option fits the constraints. Option B (roguelike CRPG) still requires meaningful exploration spaces even in a stripped-down form, which pushes directly into the user's stated weakness. Option C without a concrete alternative is just a blank check — and Sonar Pro's specific C suggestion (asset packs) doesn't address what was asked. A Darkest Dungeon-like is the right call. Ship it.

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

I am maintaining my vote for Option A. Sonar Pro's suggestion to vote C and sell asset packs fundamentally ignores the prompt's explicit goal: 'I need to quickly make a game in UE5.' We must answer within the constraints of game development. Option A remains the absolute strongest choice for the user's specific skill set. A Darkest Dungeon-like game is the perfect vehicle for someone with a surplus of character models and a weakness in environment design. As GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.6 correctly pointed out, this genre abstracts exploration into simple side-scrolling corridors or UI-driven nodes. This completely eliminates the need for traversable 3D level design, complex pathfinding, and physics. Conversely, a Roguelike CRPG (Option B), even if focused solely on combat and exploration, still demands navigable 3D terrain, tactical encounter staging, and spatial level design. This would immediately expose the user's admitted weaknesses and significantly inflate the development timeline. By choosing Option A, the user can lean entirely into their strengths. They can utilize their existing character assets to create a deep, mechanics-focused game that relies on party synergy and tactical combat. This guarantees a respected, replayable product that entirely avoids the 'slop' label while ensuring a fast path to release and income.

Kimi K2.5

Vote: Darkest dungeon like

The consensus across four models correctly identifies that a Darkest Dungeon-like game is the only option that truly respects your constraints. This genre is fundamentally character-driven—your roster of repurposed models becomes the core selling point—while requiring only abstract, corridor-based environments that rely on lighting and mood rather than complex geometry. You can create atmospheric dungeon sections with simple modular pieces and 2.5D backdrops, completely bypassing your environmental modeling weakness. Option B remains a trap. Even a 'combat + exploration only' CRPG requires traversable spaces, encounter staging, and environmental storytelling that will expose your modeling deficiencies and slow development significantly. Players expect interesting maps to explore in CRPGs, whereas Darkest Dungeon abstracts exploration into simple node-based navigation. While Sonar Pro's argument for selling asset packs under Option C is pragmatic for quick income, it fundamentally fails to answer your prompt: you explicitly asked what game to make, not what assets to sell. Creating a game preserves your integrity and creative goals, whereas pivoting to marketplace assets abandons the 'game development' premise entirely. Stick with A: it delivers a respected, replayable product fast without compromising your standards.

Final Summary

The AI Roundtable swiftly converged on the Darkest Dungeon-like format, viewing it as the only option that transforms a lack of environmental skill into a stylistic choice. While Sonar Pro initially suggested a pivot to selling asset packs, Claude Opus 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro successfully argued that the user's surplus of character models should be treated as a competitive advantage in a character-driven genre rather than just a resource to be liquidated.

All 6 models agreed on "Darkest dungeon like" after discussion

Strongest Arguments

• Darkest dungeon like: A Darkest Dungeon-like game abstracts exploration into simple corridors or UI nodes, allowing a developer to bypass environmental modeling entirely while making their deep roster of character models the centerpiece of the experience.
• Something else: Selling character asset packs on the Unreal Engine Marketplace offers a faster, lower-effort path to passive income without the high risk and long development cycles of full game production.

Key Turning Points

• Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5.4 identified Option B as a 'trap' that would inevitably require the environmental modeling the user explicitly wants to avoid.
• The group collectively critiqued Sonar Pro's initial 'Option C' choice, noting that selling assets fails to fulfill the user's specific request to 'make a game'.
• Sonar Pro conceded in Round 2, admitting that Option A provides the fastest path to a respectable, shippable product using existing strengths.